This invention relates in general to a technique for teaching a target language to a target student whose home language is different from the target language.
Techniques for teaching foreign languages involve either immersion in a foreign language or a classroom setting in which a teacher provides instructions, usually translations, which are to be memorized. There are also techniques whereby sets of expressions in the home language are set down in tabular form next to the translations of those expressions into a target language. The student then compares the two when it comes to memorize the relationship.
These and other techniques have certain advantages. But they all tend to introduce a measure of strain into the learning process. Strain in a learning process tends to inhibit the rate at which an individual can learn.
Accordingly, a major purpose of this invention is to provide a teaching system, including apparatus and method, which minimizes the strain to the student.
It is a related purpose of this invention to provide a teaching technique that is in one significant part under the control of the student.
In brief, the technique involves a process through which a student, for each of a set of expressions listens to a recorded expression in the home language, and then with a pause under control of the student, translates the expressions into the target language. The term xe2x80x9cexpressionxe2x80x9d herein will be used to refer to either a single word, a phrase, a sentence or a multiple number of sentences. The process does not involve visual aids of any kind; it is cognitive and relies solely on the senses of hearing and speaking.
A pause button is provided to the target student on the machine in which the tape or recorded medium is played so that the student can initiate a pause after the initial statement of the expression in the home language. This gives the student time to think of his or her translation before proceeding. Indeed, the student can pause at any stage of the proceeding in order to maintain a personal pace without ever experiencing stress, strain or pressure.
According to the technique, the teacher first explains how to formulate expressions in the target language with examples of expressions in the home language to be translated into the target language. As the teacher presents an expression in the home language, the target student responds by pressing the pause button and translating the given expression in the target language out loud. After translating the expression to the target language and releasing the pause button, the student proceeds to listen to a recorded translation of the same expression by one or more example students, usually one of each gender, at approximately the same level of comprehension or understanding that the target student has. The example students, who are also initially naive to the target language while being recorded, essentially form an interactive learning group with the target student. After hearing how his or her peers translate, the target student then listens to a recorded correct translation by a teacher skilled in the target language. The comparison of the target student""s own translation with the translation of a same-level example student and then with the translation by a skilled teacher, the target student masters how to progress from the stage where the student is at to a more skilled stage. The identification with the example student or students and learning alongsidexe2x80x94in an unhurried speed controlled by the target studentxe2x80x94fully eliminates the tension or strain involved.
The system involves a plurality of the above set of routines covering a large number of expressions. It is important to include in the plurality of sets, replications of individual expressions so that the target student is exposed to the same expression a number of times.
The language teaching system represents a total approach to language acquisition rather than on unconnected grammar and fragmentary conversation. The goal of the system is language learning with no tension and no anxiety. It propels the student""s progress in a relaxed ambience that is conducive to learning. Most important, it eliminates rote learning, memorization and drill. Whatever the target language that the target student wishes to acquire, the system of instruction ensures the target student""s progress. The system sets in motion a learning process that dynamically uses each target student""s capabilities, always keeping pace with the student""s cognitive style and rhythm. The system stimulates elf-motivation and offers constant reinforcement of each learner""s sense of accomplishment, as described below. This approach permits the student to integrate his or her knowledge of the target language from the start of instruction. As the target student builds upon what he or she has learned, the student is able to form sentences from the beginning. The target student draws upon words that have become accessible to him or her, reinforced by example peer students and the teacher, fitting them into the structures of the language that the student is acquiringxe2x80x94and all the while, the target student is enabled to correct his or her own responses as the student progresses along the continuum.